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3W shaft in a driver

Nippon Shafts
chile

chile

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Albatross 2024 Club
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I can see the difference in shaft thickness so I imagine it's either: a) not a good idea or b) out of the question...
 
I cut down driver shaft to play in 3 woods all the time. I see no harm in the other way around. I'm pretty sure they're the same. ***closes eyes, and waits to be punched in the face by all the know it alls***
 
Space Bandito said:
I cut down driver shaft to play in 3 woods all the time. I see no harm in the other way around. I'm pretty sure they're the same. ***closes eyes, and waits to be punched in the face by all the know it alls***
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good enough for me. guess we'll both get punched by the naysayers.
 
I just looked at my Ping G30 3w, which is one of my most used clubs that I hit pretty well, also I am currently struggling with drivers. I use it off the tee a lot, as well as off the deck and rough and it is a pretty reliable club for me. I noticed it has the same shaft as one of my drivers, a Ping TPC419. The only difference I see is the driver looks to be about 3" longer. Maybe once we can get back on the range, I will try the driver shaft in the 3w ?
 
JY56 said:
I just looked at my Ping G30 3w, which is one of my most used clubs that I hit pretty well, also I am currently struggling with drivers. I use it off the tee a lot, as well as off the deck and rough and it is a pretty reliable club for me. I noticed it has the same shaft as one of my drivers, a Ping TPC419. The only difference I see is the driver looks to be about 3" longer. Maybe once we can get back on the range, I will try the driver shaft in the 3w ?
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Yeah. I play a 3wood at 42 inches, and my driver at 44.75 - so that's about right.
 
chile said:
I can see the difference in shaft thickness so I imagine it's either: a) not a good idea or b) out of the question...
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Can you explain the thickness part?
Most metal woods shafts can be used for either.
 
chile said:
I can see the difference in shaft thickness so I imagine it's either: a) not a good idea or b) out of the question...
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Shaft thickness? Should be any. There is the variable that a 3wd shaft is normally tipped and a driver normally isn't, but other than the length and drastically reduced swingweight that entails, there's no reason not to.
 
JB said:
Can you explain the thickness part?
Most metal woods shafts can be used for either.
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Well, Idk if it was me so I asked my son to look and he thought the shaft was thicker as well (compared the riptide vs my HZRDUS yellow) ... When I get it back from the shop, I'll show what I as/am looking at
 
The only reason they would be different would be if you have a .350 shaft in one and a .335 in the other. Would need to be an older club though since they basically did away with the .350 tip size 5-10 years ago.
 
I use a GD Tour AD F .335 55g - fairway shaft. Has a lower kick for fairway purposes.
 
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GolfMT36 said:
The only reason they would be different would be if you have a .350 shaft in one and a .335 in the other. Would need to be an older club though since they basically did away with the .350 tip size 5-10 years ago.
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Yeah, but I don't think the two he listed are made in .350, are they?
 
chile said:
Well, Idk if it was me so I asked my son to look and he thought the shaft was thicker as well (compared the riptide vs my HZRDUS yellow) ... When I get it back from the shop, I'll show what I as/am looking at
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Could have been trimmed wrong, but generally they will be similar size and length will be the main difference between the two. Some golfers play their FW woods with a bit heavier shaft.
 
chile said:
Well, Idk if it was me so I asked my son to look and he thought the shaft was thicker as well (compared the riptide vs my HZRDUS yellow) ... When I get it back from the shop, I'll show what I as/am looking at
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Another point to consider here is that the Riptide and HZRDUS are built on different mandrels and have different profiles. The Riptide has a tapered butt section whereas the HZRDUS is parallel.

This was one of the biggest takeaways for me from the Project X Small Batch event last fall. I have a HZRDUS black and our tester shaft ended up being the Riptide and I kept saying that the Riptide felt small (thin) in my hands during testing... and this would be exactly why.

FWIW, I also tried a 3W shaft in my driver and found that the swing weight was too far off so I couldn’t hit square. Found a happy medium at around 44.25” or so.
 
YukonLiving said:
Another point to consider here is that the Riptide and HZRDUS are built on different mandrels and have different profiles. The Riptide has a tapered butt section whereas the HZRDUS is parallel.

This was one of the biggest takeaways for me from the Project X Small Batch event last fall. I have a HZRDUS black and our tester shaft ended up being the Riptide and I kept saying that the Riptide felt small (thin) in my hands during testing... and this would be exactly why.

FWIW, I also tried a 3W shaft in my driver and found that the swing weight was too far off so I couldn’t hit square. Found a happy medium at around 44.25” or so.
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Gotta love a THP Weekend where the group gets to design and roll their own shafts, and by design, we don’t just mean the look.

 
JB said:
Gotta love a THP Weekend where the group gets to design and roll their own shafts, and by design, we don’t just mean the look.

Click to expand...

Absolutely!!! Every single detail was customizable at the granular level! Just a phenomenal, game changing experience.
 
My advice is if you are looking for a shorter shaft in a driver just try taking an inch or two off a driver shaft, rather than going with an actual 3w shaft. 44in tends to be ‘short enough’ for most but still gives plenty of swing sore speed = distance.
 
strawboater said:
My advice is if you are looking for a shorter shaft in a driver just try taking an inch or two off a driver shaft, rather than going with an actual 3w shaft. 44in tends to be ‘short enough’ for most but still gives plenty of swing sore speed = distance.
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I have "my shaft" in the HZDRUS Yellow (plays at 45") but I picked the riptide up (measures 42.5" butt to tip) so maybe 44'ish with the head on...not too worried about more distance (i'm "okay" with my current distance) but wanted to try out the riptide...
 
The swingweight issue is the biggest drawback to this kind of Experiment. I've found some people are pretty sensitive to swingweight while others seem to be able to hit a wide range well. Also the reason they tip trim and effectively stiffen the tip section of the shaft is so it plays as its intended with the heavier 3w head which is approximately 10 grams heavier.
Don't let any of that stop you from experimenting though. Some drivers these days swingweight heavy anyway. I've seen D7 in a stock driver. You could take an inch off that driver and still be at D0 or better.
 
I take it back about the difference in thickness... Guess my (our) eyes were playing tricks on me... And it's a 1 1/4" shorter than my HZRDUS yellow so just a hair under 45" for total length...

Now to find an open field tomorrow...

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how about a steel shaft in a 3w, ive played one in the past and liked it!
 
Nice! hope you have good luck with the club
 
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